Faith and Fate 7 – A New Beginning: 1948-1957

The drama of Jewish history continues with “Faith and Fate, Episode 7: A New Beginning: 1948-1957.”

Picking up where “Episode 6: The Miracle of Israel” left off, “A New Beginning” tells the behind-the-scene stories of the absorption of the 850,000 Jewish refugees from Yemen, Morocco, Libya, Egypt and more. Nobody, after seeing the chilling terrors they faced and the glorious scenes of their rescue, can fail to be moved.

The film takes us back fourteen centuries to the prophet Mohammed, citing the verses of the Koran that feed the present-day Arab/Israeli conflict. The film also captures the beginning of the Cold War, showing the power plays that culminated in the Suez crisis. It also shows the fate of Jews behind the Iron Curtain, contrasting it with the challenge of freedom in 1950’s suburban America.

The thread that runs throughout Faith and Fate: A New Beginning is the very human story of the impact of history on ordinary people.

Among the world experts interviewed are:
. Rafael Israeli, Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Hebrew University
. Dr. Jane Gerber, Director of the Institute of Sephardic Studies, City University of New York
. Zvi Gitelman , Professor of Political Science, University of Michigan
. Anita Shapira, Professor of Modern Jewish History, Tel Aviv University
. Geoffrey Gurock, Professor of Modern Jewish History Yeshiva University

“This period demonstrated a remarkable ascent from the ashes of the Holocaust to the establishment of a Jewish state and the beginning of a religious resurgence throughout the Jewish world. For the Jews in the Arab lands life was over and their ancient culture was under assault even in their new homeland. In America, Jews were facing the challenges of affluence, acceptance, and assimilation. In Russia, on the other hand, Jews were trapped behind the Iron Curtain. their religion banned and their status reduced to being second class citizens. While in Israel itself, a spirit of purpose, courage, tenacity and growing faith in the Divine dominated.” – Rabbi Berel Wein